The present invention generally relates software application selection. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and systems for selecting an application to process an electronic image based on image content.
Certain electronic images may require use of a particular software application for processing. Workstations for medical image processing, for example, typically provide a collection of various software products and applications. Certain software applications may be used primarily and/or exclusively for one particular types of images, such as brain scans. Additionally, certain images may require a particular processing application in order to process the image. For example, an attempt to open an image of an orthopedic knee scan using brain scanning software may result in improper image processing, or even no processing at all, because of the particular functionality of the brain scanning software.
Further, certain applications are designed to process dissimilar data simultaneously to generate images. For example, a neuro-analysis application may receive both T1-weighed and T2-weighted MRI data sets as input to segment a brain scan. Segmentation may involve assigning a label to each image pixel according to the tissue type represented, and using a plurality of MRI scanning protocols, each with a different mechanism, to generate contrast between various tissues.
Certain workstations provide a means for browsing a database of images, and loading an image or a set of images into local memory. Typically, however, a limited number of browsers exists to support all applications. Thus, it may be common practice for a user desiring to process an image to first select an image, or a data file from a database of images and then select an application to process the image as a separate step. Alternatively, the user may first select an image processing application, and then select images individually through the application for processing. This process can be cumbersome and time consuming, particularly where the user is to view several images at once.
Certain workstations or software systems automatically recognize the application necessary to process a file based on the file name. For example, a file labeled with an extension “.doc” in Microsoft Windows will automatically be processed by Microsoft Word when that file is selected. These systems, however, do not use the content of the file to determine the application. Accordingly, a mislabeled file may lead to incorrect application selection.
Data and/or electronic images may be classified, or organized into image classes, based on labels or tags or metadata provided with the data, the filenames of the data, the pixilation layout or content of the data, or a combination of these elements. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,549,660 issued to Lipson, et al. (“the '660 patent”), describes a method and apparatus for classifying images by identifying relationships between the images and a category model or template. Though Lipson describes a method to categorize and classify images based on image content, it does not provide resources for selecting an application to open and process the image based upon the content of the image.
It is thus desirable to provide a technique which may be used to automatically select, open and execute an image processing application based upon the content of the image selected for processing.